WHY BRITISH?WHY COLUMBIA?

By R. Rathwell

The crown colony of British Columbia was proclaimed November 19, 1858. It was bounded by the
USA, Rocky Mountains, Finlay and Nass Rivers, excluding Vancouver Island and all other islands
south of the 52nd parallel. The capital was Fort Langley, followed by New Westminster. On July 28,
1863 the boundary was extended to 60 degrees latitude and 120 longitude. The Colony of Vancouver
Island and the Colony of British Columbia were united November 19,1866 with Victoria becoming
the Capital. British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada as a province July 20, 1871.

That's how we came to be a province. So where did the name come from? Well, let's start with the
"Columbia" part.

Prior to the 1846 settlement of the boundary between British and United States territory west of the
Rocky Mountains, most of present-day BC was part of the jointly occupied Oregon
Territory. But that wasn't the sole name given to the area. Other names had been given to this area,
some having origins from much further back.

In 1792 Captain Robert Gray, from Boston, re-discovered the river which the Spaniards had named
"Rio de San Roque" some 17 years earlier. Ignorant of the Spaniards' prior discovery, Gray named
the great river after his ship, The Columbia. In the following years the vast area drained by the
Columbia River was referred to increasingly as the Columbia Country. When the Hudson's Bay
Company set up two administrative areas west of the Rockies, they named the northerly section "New
Caledonia" and the southerly "Columbia".

After the Treaty of Washington in 1846 fixed the 49th parallel as the boundary between Canada and
the US, most of the Hudson's Bay Company's Department of Columbia (the
southerly part) became American territory. And, as you can probably surmise, when the Oregon
Territory was divided between Canada and the US, the States kept the name "Oregon". So, on the
Canadian side of the previous Oregon Territory (what is now BC), the two names given by the
Hudson's Bay Company were used. "New Caledonia" was still applied to the northerly part while
"Columbia" was used for what remained of the southern part of the territory.

As this remaining area was to become a crown colony, there was need for a single name for the
colony. There was quite a bit of debate as to what name should be used. At that time it appeared that
New Caledonia was gaining favour as the name to be given to the new territory. But, as with any
major decision in BC, there were quite a few people who didn't like that idea. Namely because the
name New Caledonia was being used by the French in the South Pacific.

The person who came up with a solution was none other than Queen Victoria. The matter of the name
of the new crown colony had been referred to her and she replied:

The Queen has received Sir Bulwer Lytton's letter. If the name of "New Caledonia" is objected
to as being already borne by another colony or island claimed by the French, it may be better
to give the new colony west of the Rocky Mountains another name. New Hanover, New
Cornwall and New Georgia appear from the maps to be the names of the subdivisions of that
country, but do not appear on all maps. The only name which is given to the whole territory in
every map the Queen has consulted is "Columbia", but as there exists also a Columbia in South
America, and the citizens of the United States call their country also Columbia, at least in
poetry, "British Columbia " might be, in the Queen's opinion, the best name.

The previous quotation is taken from a letter by Queen Victoria to Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton,
Colonial Secretary. Her advice was taken and our province, a crown colony at that time, was officially
proclaimed as British Columbia in 1858.

[Mr. Rathwell is Coordinator of Volunteers and Education at one of Victoria's most popular
tourist attractions, Craigdarroch Castle (Operated by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical
Museum Society), 1050 Joan Crescent.]